Land use land cover change detection by using remote sensing in Meknes province, Morocco with an indicator based (DPSIR) approach

Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) are key drivers of ecosystem transformations at a global scale. This study explores the spatio-temporal transformations of LULC in various ecosystems within the Meknes prefecture, Morocco, with two main objectives: first, to analyze the dynamics of LULC changes over a 22-year period (from 2000 to 2021) and second, to identify the driving factors behind these transformations using the DPSIR (Driving Forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses) conceptual framework. The study relies on remote sensing techniques and the analysis of satellite images from Landsat 7 ETM+ (2000, 2010) and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (2021). A supervised image classification was conducted using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC), with accuracy assessed by the Kappa index, which increased from 0.7529 in 2000 to 0.8057 in 2021. The overall accuracy of this classification also improved, rising from 82.92 to 86.53% over the same period. The analysis reveals significant changes in ecosystem composition, with a decrease in Dense Forest (DF) by -0.24%, Bushland/Sparse (BS) by -0.74%, Plantations (PL) by -0.53%, Barren/Rocky Land (BR) by -1.59%, and Barren Land (BL) by -1.60%. Conversely, there has been an increase in Agricultural Land (AG) by 0.36%, Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) by 0.39%, and Urbanized areas (UR) by 0.91%. These spatio-temporal changes result from multiple influences exerting pressure on the various ecosystems in the region, thus highlighting the need to strengthen conservation policies and adopt sustainable management strategies to reduce degradation and promote sustainable development in this study area.